Andy Carroll may be set for a spell on the sidelines with a hamstring injury. Michael Laudrup is on the lookout for left-back cover, Cheick Tiote could return for Newcastle’s trip to Everton, while Andre Villas-Boas admits Brad Friedel is still in pole position as Tottenham’s number one:

Reports last night suggest West Ham fear the worst after Andy Carroll was forced off injured on his debut last Saturday. Quotes attributed to the club revealed:

It looks a bad hamstring, too damaged to scan at the moment.

The possible injury would be a bitter blow to Sam Allardyce’s side, given Carroll’s instant impact against Fulham. With a strong upcoming schedule including (nor, SUN, qpr, SOT, wig) over the next six Gameweeks, Carroll looked primed for points and Fantasy investment but this news certainly puts on plans on hold until the club offer any definite prognosis. While it may offer Carlton Cole the chance to lead the line, our interest is likely to head Kevin Nolan’s way after the skipper notched for the second time in the opening three Gameweeks at the weekend.

A cynic, however, may suggest the club are playing up the injury after Carroll pulled out of international duties with the problem. Only earlier in the day, after all, Allardyce was full of praise for the forward, hailing Carroll as key to West Ham’s chances of survival. The on-loan star’s physical presence helped bully the Cottagers to a 3-0 defeat and the Hammers boss was in no doubt as to his importance:

If Andy scores between 10 and 15 goals, it is going to give us a great chance to be out of the relegation zone…we can get in the top 10 because all we have to do there is to produce enough clean sheets to make sure we get points on the board with the goals that he scores. Andy’s going to be our main man and you’ve got to get people supporting him. I thought the support (against Fulham) from Matt Taylor and Ricardo Vaz Te was superb alongside Momo Diame.

Reports suggest Michael Laudrup is on the look for cover at left-back after Neil Taylor was ruled out for the rest of the season with a fractured ankle. Taylor’s injury afforded Ben Davies an opportunity in the back-four in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Sunderland but, despite having the likes of Alan Tate as a possible back-up, the new Swansea boss revealed he is keeping his options open:

You are talking a long time before Neil returns to the game, and we will have do something. We only have one left-back now and he is only 19, so we will see what we can do. Ben did well in pre-season and he did great against Sunderland, but he is 19 — you can’t put so much responsibility on his shoulders. We can’t go out and buy someone, but we need someone. We will have to wait and see what possibilities we have. What happens if Ben gets an injury or a little flu or whatever? We need an extra player.

With Chico set to miss the next two league games through suspension, Laudrup has a real defensive dilemma on his hands ahead of a potentially prosperous run of games (avl, EVE, sto, RDG, WIG) but his reluctance to guarantee Davies game time is somewhat frustrating. At 4.0 in FPL and a mere 3.6 in the Sky Sports game, many had earmarked him as a cut-price route into a defence that has produced two clean sheets in the first three Gameweeks but his manager’s words are far from encouraging. While Tate and Garry Monk are on standby to cover at centre-half, Laudrup clearly is undecided over his options – Fantasy investment in potential cover looks a little too risky right now, with the next few lineups set to give us more of a hint into the manager’s thinking.

Newcastle’s injury problems at full-back continued yesterday after Alan Pardew revealed he expects to be without Danny Simpson for the Gameweek 4 trip to Everton. The right-back was subbed off with a hamstring problem against Villa on Sunday, with new boy Vernun Anita switching to defence as a result; while the Dutchman’s versatility offers his side cover, his classification as a midfielder across the Fantasy games is a frustration.

In better news for Magpies fans, Cheick Tiote could be set for his first appearance of the season at Goodison in a fortnight’s time. With the Ivorian hampered with a calf injury, Pardew’s side have yet to return a clean sheet this term – the Newcastle manager clearly rued his absence for the Villa game:

We have two weeks to get him right. That is what we hope to do, get him fit and strong. That was Cheick’s game against Villa and we missed him like nobody else. There were a lot of midfielders there and he would have bashed a few of them up. That is what we needed to do.

Pardew is also optimistic of a return for Shola Ameobi as he looks to freshen up his frontline options. With Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba managing a single goal between them in the first three Gameweeks, Newcastle have Hatem Ben Arfa to thank for two of their three goals so far – the Senegal pair may well be under threat for a start if their current form continues.

Edin Dzeko looks set to continue as Carlos Tevez’s striker partner for City’s Gameweek 4 trip to Stoke. With Sergio Aguero still battling to recover from a knee injury, David Platt revealed Mario Balotelli is set to be sidelined for a couple of weeks after undergoing an eye operation:

To be honest, it’s just a normal procedure. We’ve waited until the natural gap of the international break. It shouldn’t be a problem. It is just a minor operation. He’s needed the operation to make sure the next time he did get conjunctivitis he can still get through because the problem is putting his contact lenses in. He can’t get his contact lenses in, so he can’t really play.

Dzeko certainly made the most of his chance against QPR last Saturday, with a goal and assist contribution for his Fantasy owners – indeed, he’s proved a decent differential over City’s first two home games, with 17 FPL points accrued over his pair of Etihad fixtures thus far. Balotelli is expected back just after the Potters clash, though, and with Aguero possibly kept back for the home clash against Arsenal the following week rather than hurled into a bruising battle at the Britannia, Dzeko may have one last chance before returning to the familiarity of the bench once again.

Andre Villas-Boas may have splashed the cash to acquire Hugo Lloris from Lyon but he’s warned the stopper he faces a battle to become the club’s number one.

When you transfer it’s not written in the contract that you have to play. He has to compete against three good goalkeepers and at the moment Brad (Friedel) is doing extremely well. He deserves to be playing and he’ll continue to do so.

Friedel was named man of the match against Norwich, with a string of saves preventing his side from defeat – his Fantasy owners may be content to hold temporarily after yesterday’s news, with (rdg, QPR, AVL) in the next four Gameweeks. At present, Lloris looks a real gamble, then – priced at 6.0 and 5.7 to Friedel’s 5.5 and 5.6 in FPL and the Sky Sports game respectively, few will be willing to take a punt even when he does finally oust Friedel, due to Spurs’ inability to register clean sheets.

Already, we’re seeing the withdrawals and injury doubts rack up ahead of the next fortnight’s international action. Fantasy owners of Steven Pienaar will be keeping an eye open after the Everton man pulled out of South Africa’s upcoming friendlies with a thigh strain. Ashley Cole will miss the first of England’s two international matches with a “minor ankle knock” – he has returned to the Bridge to have the problem assessed. Danny Fox of Southampton and Norwich’s Russell Martin are both doubts for Scotland’s fixtures with groin and ankle problems respectively, while City’s Jack Rodwell has withdrawn from England U21 duty with a knee knock.